Bad omen to speak of the dead - some may believe this and even call it pantang in Malay, but I'd like to think my dear old great-grandfather would be happy about me revealing his past to hopefully an interested audience!

As I mentioned in a previous post, his name was Lim Nee Yam and apparently from Swatow in Fukkien province (I've got 三都 written down in my notes for some reason). He ran a 'tongkang' sea transport business. He had little boats that helped to discharge cargo from larger ships berthed alongside the Singapore river. He also owned houses in Club Street, Geylang and Kembangan.

In November, 2012, my great-grandfather and his brother were exhumed from Bukit Brown cemetery in order to make way for roadwork development plans there.

These inscribing on the graves is not easy to decipher, but any comments would be welcome. I understand that a lot of Peranakans were buried at Bukit Brown Cemetery.